


I Cannot Escape the Darkness

by naturallymorbid



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Adam Driver Smut, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Car Accidents, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/M, Kylo Ren is a Vampire Hunter, Near Death Experiences, Protective Kylo Ren, Reylo - Freeform, Steampunk, Vampire Hunters, Vampire Turning, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:48:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25428661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naturallymorbid/pseuds/naturallymorbid
Summary: Rey is getting her life back together after surviving an impossible car wreck.  When she's invited to a friend's masquerade as the photographer, Rey believes things might be getting back on track.  A handsome stranger invites her to dance and then all hell breaks loose.  Vampires are real and are after her for a ritual known as "The Feast."  Vampire Hunter Kylo Ren has been tracking the vampire known as Hux for a long time, after the vampire took everything from him.  He saves Rey at the masquerade, hoping she can give him some answers, like why the vampires want her and where she got the all silver mask that saved her life.  However, as the two work together to prevent more tragedies, Rey and Kylo realize that there is more than just a shared goal, there is chemistry between them.  And Armitage Hux would love nothing more than to take that from Kylo as well.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 24





	1. 1

Title courtesy of Those Poor Bastards

_There is a curse. Upon my every **waking breath**. And **I cannot escape the darkness**._

Rey was having that nightmare again; the one where the vampire tore out her throat. She would be dancing with a ginger-haired stranger in the midst of a fine ball. Armitage; his name would come to mind. He would guide her through the waltz, his hands deftly caressing her rich dress and gloves. 

His luminous emerald eyes communicated warmth and unbound affection for her. But before he leaned in to steal a kiss, a fine mist of blood would spray his face as white-hot pain snatched at her neck and she fell away from him and into the arms of a terrifying stranger.

Rey could rely on the dream to wake her better than any alarm clock invented. She sat bolt upright in bed, the sheets twisted around her shapely legs, her dark hair pasted to her skin. There would be no more sleep for her. 

Her nightmare started with the car crash that should have killed her ten months ago. Every horrifying detail was still as fresh as the morning the accident occurred, the screams, the pain, the silence, the hospital.

Rey was driving herself to the Logan International airport in Boston to grab an early flight to Chicago to visit a long-time friend during Christmas break from college. It was nearly the last thing she ever did. 

A patch of black ice caused her to lose control of her 95’ Honda compact, while driving around Wenham Lake a few miles away from her home. She recalled the car bouncing against a tree while tipping over the side of the embankment, a topsy-turvy ride, landing upside-down in the Lake itself. 

She had been told it was nearly an hour before she made it to a hospital. By all normal laws of the universe, Rey should have been dead. Instead, emergency services found her unconscious, but mostly unhurt on the side of the road. She should have frozen to death in minutes from the water temperature or drowned. 

Everyone asked how she got there, but Rey couldn’t call a suitable answer to mind. She had lots of theories, but all of them would make her sound crazy. Her silence was taken as a sign it was too painful to talk about. 

Glancing at her antique grandfather clock, Rey could see it was four in the afternoon. She hauled herself out of her queen-sized bed and made her way to the spacious closet nearby. In just a few hours she would be attending a steampunk ball, under the guise of photographing the event for an article. 

It was as much an excuse for Rey to see friends. She knew that the steampunk culture was now a way of life for people, a revival of Victorian dress and customs. She didn’t actually live the lifestyle some of her friends did, but she enjoyed the chance to dress up in a beautiful corset for the night, spinning around a dance floor for a few hours. 

***

The gold and black dress clung to her body, the cute little bustle wiggling as she flounced around the dance floor with her camera. Rey was glad that Moxie had talked her into the tight outfit after all. Rey wasn’t fond of things that were too clingy, but she could get used to the firm hug of the black corset. 

She could also get used to the appreciative stares of the billionaires and their entourages. 

“May I snap a picture?” she asked of a particularly affectionate couple. They nodded between kisses as her camera clicked shots away into the memory bank. 

She felt a deep ache in her stomach that she was alone. After the accident, she had become distanced from her fiancé, Finn. It had been a very long and tumultuous ending to their relationship. Keep away negativity, Rey thought as she moved on to another potential shot of her gracious hosts, Moxie and her boyfriend Richard. 

Moxie Croft tended to be the life of the party, no matter where she went. With long, bright red hair she commanded attention even at only 4’11”. There always seemed to be an endless stream of men following her. Rey was happy that Richard seemed to be what Moxie was looking for, because he had stuck around the longest. 

Richard Huang was of Chinese descent, with soft brown almond-shaped eyes and slightly tanned skin. He was only slightly taller than Moxie but he carried himself as if he were 6’. Rey felt that he reminded her of an updated Mr. Darcy, because he always seemed so very serious any time they met. He was soft spoken and made his words count when he did speak, which wasn’t often. 

“Aren’t you glad you decided to leave the house tonight?” Moxie practically shouted over the live string quartet. Rey had snapped a candid picture of the couple toasting their success with the charity steampunk ball for the local heart society chapter. 

“Yes,” Rey answered, reluctant to admit she was having a better time. Usually her Friday nights consisted of sitting at home on the couch, channel flipping. 

“And aren’t you glad I talked you into such a sexy outfit?” Moxie added, patting Rey’s bustle. Moxie tended to be an enormous flirt. 

“Well…”

“I’ve seen everyone looking.” Moxie winked. She would know. 

Tonight, she and Richard were dressed from head to toe in Neo-Victorian garb. Moxie’s long red hair was piled on her head in complicated ringlets and swirls, trailing over her shoulders like fire. A beautiful black hat perched towards the front of her head, matched by an equally dark outfit, complete with corset, ruffles and a bustle. Even her gloves were a black lace set off with ribbons. 

Rey wondered if Richard had picked his outfit tonight, or if Moxie had made the executive decision. He was in a charcoal three-piece suit, something straight out of a spaghetti western. Long feathers and goth crins had been pinned or woven into his short hair, like some type of futuristic dreds. A pair of black goggles hung around his neck, as if he had just finished crafting an invention and decided to pop off to the party. 

“It does suit you,” Richard added. He was a man of few words and Rey was more likely to believe his opinion over Moxie’s. 

“It’s settled. Now, take a thirty-minute break and go dance with one of these really hot billionaires and their powerful CEO friends,” Moxie ordered. 

“Yes ma’am,” Rey conceded. She let the camera hang by its strap, weighing heavy on her breasts. 

Though she had no plan to follow Moxie’s order, Rey figured a quick drink and maybe watching couples waltz would satisfy her coupling urges. 

As she skirted around the crowded parquet floors, Rey tumbled headlong into someone. 

She apologized profusely to a man in a silver mask. His red hair tumbled free from it’s ribbon queue and splashed around his muscular shoulders. 

“Pardon,” he drawled, with just a hint of a European accent. 

“No, my fault,” Rey hastily replied. Her pulse raced fast enough she could hear it in her ears. 

“It is never a lady’s fault.” The warm, cultured voice washed over her, sending heat right down to her core. His voice was so familiar. Maybe an actor she had watched before? Moxie had said actors would be at this thing.

“By way of apology, would the lady care for a dance?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure, that would be great.” Rey knew she sounded awkward. Elizabeth Bennett would have never been so unsure or awkward. She was one of Rey’s idols, although they really seemed to have nothing in common. 

The attractive stranger took her hand and spun her onto the dance floor. Rey felt the pointed stares of women around her. She had to admit, there was something almost otherworldly about his graceful movements as he formally bowed to her then whisked her around the room for a waltz. 

At first, Rey enjoyed the attention. But as the waltz continued, the more stares her partner garnered. Women were outright stopping and staring at him. 

Her partner spoke in a low voice of common trendy items, like certain reality show families or celebrity dancing champions. Rey answered politely at first, but as the dance wore on she didn’t say much else. 

“My dear, do you grow tired of this dance?” he asked, as they slowed down. 

“Yes, just a little bit. But, why is-“

Now, the men were all staring too. It was as if everyone had been hypnotized by their dancing. Rey loved the classic animated movies and had dreamed of being Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, with a handsome man helping her stop a floor full of people just to watch them. She just never imagined it would be so creepy in reality. 

“Why are they all staring?” he asked, brushing a stray curl away from her face, being sure not to touch the gilded mask adorning her face. It had been a surprise gift from Moxie for showing up tonight. Rey didn’t ask where it had come from, as it did no good with a friend like Moxie. 

“Yes. Why are they all staring at us?”

Even Moxie wore a glazed look on her face, holding her drink mid-sip. 

“Because they’re all under my spell,” the man said, as if he were remarking on the status of the weather. 


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Spell?” Rey couldn’t help herself; she laughed. Spell. It sounded like something out of a fairytale.   
> “Of course a spell. But you seem immune for some inexplicable reason.” He tried to touch the skin of her bare chin, but she pulled away reflexively.  
> “Immune?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for taking a chance on this story! I'm going to try to update once a week, work willing.   
> Warning: violence and gore

I Cannot Escape the Darkness

Title courtesy of Those Poor Bastards

_There is a curse. Upon my every **waking breath**. And **I cannot escape the darkness**._

“Spell?” Rey couldn’t help herself; she laughed. Spell. It sounded like something out of a fairytale. 

“Of course a spell. But you seem immune for some inexplicable reason.” He tried to touch the skin of her bare chin, but she pulled away reflexively.

“Immune?” 

“That mask, where did it come from?” the stranger asked. There was a touch of something in his voice. Was it fear Rey detected?

“My friend gave it to me. Why?”

The man placed just the tips of his fingers on the sides of the mask, gently trying to pry it away. 

Acrid smoke filled the air and the smell of burning flesh permeated Rey’s nostrils. She coughed violently and turned away for a moment.

She glanced at the stranger’s horrified face. He was screaming something in an unfamiliar language, his fingertips on fire. 

Sensing a chance to escape, Rey took off running through the dance floor of paralyzed patrons. It wasn’t her proudest moment, but she had to do something. 

Out in the lobby, it was deserted. 

_Of course, it is,_ she thought bitterly, searching for an exit. 

Rey tried the doors. Locked. When had all this been done? 

Outside, no one was walking around. The masquerade was being held out on the docks of the harbor in a warehouse-cum-party-venue. “Totally exclusive” had seemed very exotic until now. 

She banged on the doors, screaming for help. 

There was a man running towards her from the darkness. Rey’s heart fluttered as he approached the glass with almost inhuman speed. 

A sudden spray of arterial blood bathed the glass in front of her. This time, Rey did let loose a short little scream. 

Was that her last chance at freedom, sliding down the glass door? Another man appeared behind the first. He was holding an empty crossbow and leaning over to check the body. 

Rey directed her horrified gaze to the dead man, who was slowly disintegrating into dust? 

The hunter, because that’s exactly how he looked to Rey, retrieved his lost arrow and inspected it for signs of damage before he noticed Rey standing at the window watching him. 

“Oh my God!” Rey whispered, unable to tear her eyes away. 

“Wait!” the hunter shouted. “Just wait!” But Rey was already backing away. It felt like being caught between a rock and a hard place.

A vampire on the inside and some type of hunter on the outside. 

Glass crashed behind her as the hunter entered the building. 

Rey screamed again. There was nothing, save a fire extinguisher that she could hope to defend herself with and it appeared to be bolted to the wall. 

Heavy footsteps and then something slammed into her with the force of a freight train. Rey and someone toppled to the floor. She squirmed, trying to get away from him. 

“Wait!” the man said firmly, pressing down on her enough to keep her from moving but not enough to actually hurt her. “I’m just going to ask you a few questions.”

“How do I know that you’re not one of them?” A vampire hunting other vampires. She had been the butt of enough jokes from the universe to know that always seemed to be her luck. 

“Them? Oh, there are more here then. How many more?”

“I don’t know,” Rey snapped. “I would be able to answer more if you would take your knee out of my back.” 

The stranger let her up, but he didn’t apologize for tackling her in the first place. 

“How many more inside?” 

Rey gave the stranger a long, hard look. He was younger than she had first thought, with a Roman nose and curling, dark hair poking out beneath the brim of his large hat. A day or two’s worth of stubble littered his chin, upper lip, and cheeks.

His clothes were a mixture of functionality and Victorian castoffs. He would have been right at home as an extra in an old west film, Rey thought. 

“How many what?” Rey asked. She hadn’t processed the question fully. 

“Bloodsuckers,” he said. “How many more are there?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t even think they were real until just now.”

Sharp screams pierced the air. “Oh no, Moxie!” Rey started for the nearest entrance. 

An unfamiliar man appeared out of nowhere, blocking their path. 

The hunter - Rey realized she didn’t know his name even - grabbed Rey and pulled him behind him. 

He uttered a single, unfamiliar word and then fired off an arrow. Faster than Rey could even process, the arrow caught the vampire through the eye. It took the vampire a few seconds to realize that he was even dead. His head exploded in a shower of dust and gore. 

Rey liked to think that she had a stout stomach after years of travel, but the sight was so unexpected her stomach gave an enormous heave and she was sick. 

“Here,” the man said, drawing a surprisingly pristine handkerchief from a pocket in his coat. Rey wiped the sick from the tips of her hair. 

Tough girl, huh? Survived a deadly car wreck but throws up at the sight of blood. 

“Come on,” the man said, leading her down the hallways, crossbow at the ready. He ducked around every corner, ready for foes to leap out at them from all angles. 

“There was one,” Rey told him. “He tried to charm me,” she recounted. 

The hunter didn’t say anything but acknowledged with a curt nod of his head. The screams had become background noise to Rey in light of a man having his head blown off. 

They stopped outside of a door. The hunter waited for a few seconds before he carefully opened it a crack. Rey didn’t want to look inside, but she couldn’t help herself. 

If she had thought the gore before was bad, the masquerade was a literal bloodbath. There were so much carnage and violence. 

Television had portrayed vampires as something beautiful and desirable. The monsters Rey was watching, with their leathery wings and dripping claws and fangs did not resemble humans. 

Rey couldn’t believe the transformation and destruction. These creatures could literally rip someone in half. 

At the center of the bloody maelstrom was the stranger she had danced with earlier. He didn’t seem to notice the door had opened. 

Where had these others come from? She wondered. Had they been waiting in the wings for them? Where was Moxie? Richard? 

Her stomach churned again and with much self-loathing, she threw up once more. 

God, this was awful. She saw one of the billionaires ripped limb from limb by two of the creatures. This was much worse than anything she could have dreamed of in any of the nightmares. 

“Moxie,” she breathed. She didn’t see the perky redhead anywhere. Rey noticed that the women were being saved and that it was only the men the vampires seemed to be after as far as a meal. 

“Come on, there’s nothing more we can do,” the hunter told her kindly. He shut the door and began drawing some type of symbol on it with chalk. Rey wiped the sick from her mouth again, feeling numb. 

“It’s too dangerous for a civilian,” the man said, steering her toward the nearest exit. Rey just let him. Moxie and Richard were somewhere in that mess. And here she was, walking along like everything was fine. Rey couldn’t help herself, she started crying. 

“Shh, you’re going to attract attention. Come on, there’s nothing we can do for them now.” 

The hunter led her through the shattered glass door where he had first entered. That seemed like eons ago now.

He ducked behind cars as they made their way across the parking lot. Numbly, Rey followed his motions. She didn’t know what to do with the not knowing. Was this how survivors of natural disasters or catastrophes felt? Left behind?

They reached a large, black van that had been repainted numerous times. The hunter helped her into the front seat, locking her into the complicated webbing of the crash belts. Her corset dug uncomfortably into her middle and lower back as she tried to conform to the shape.

“I’ll be back,” he told her, giving her a knife from another pocket. “Keep the doors locked, even for me. If it’s me, I’ll let myself in.” 

Rey nodded. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t trying to get away from him. He was a stranger for goodness’s sake. Hadn’t her mother always warned her about getting into cars with strangers?

But this man didn’t seem like a stranger, or not so much. He reminded her of someone; someone that she had met once before and liked…

She was suddenly so exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep.

“Wait,” she told him, because this seemed like the right thing to do since she was waiting in his van. “What is your name?”

“Kylo,” he told her. 


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren had been tracking the vampire known only as Hux up the coast for years now, and he wasn’t about to let some sort of lost debutante screw things up.

Kylo Ren had been tracking the vampire known only as Hux up the coast for years now, and he wasn’t about to let some sort of lost debutante screw things up. 

He swore under his breath as he ducked and scooted across the parking lot toward the convention center again. Would there be enough time to perform the seal charm on the doors and seal the bastards inside? He hadn’t been in time to save all of those people. 

Kylo hated to think of them as innocent though, because many were ruthless businessmen with hefty bank accounts. Kylo did alright for himself but being a full-time vampire hunter sometimes didn’t cover all the bills. That’s why he kept his day job as a bondsman, tracking lost prey. It wasn’t always steady work, but it kept food on his table. 

Up ahead, swarms of the creatures were arriving for more of the carnage. This was bad. Really bad. 

There was no way that Kylo could hope to fight off all of them. He had to keep recycling the arrows from the certain ash tree, because it was so difficult to get new ones made. Arrows had to be from certain branches that had been harvested certain parts of the month. It wasn’t like you could go to the store and pick up a quiver full of them. 

Regular arrows only succeeding in making the vampires angry. Silver knives were good, but you had to get too close. Guns raised too many questions, especially now with everyone looking over your shoulder. 

Kylo waited nearby, making sure he was downwind to minimize the chance of vampires catching his scent. He had never seen anything like this in his life before. 

It was only something he had read about, “The Dark Feast.” Vampires would choose a human gathering and descend to build their numbers and enjoy a bit of recreation. Kylo couldn’t recall what the occasion had been for their last feast, but he knew it was over 100 years ago. So what was this tonight?

It would be cliche, but Kylo had a bad feeling about tonight’s proceedings. Especially since that woman - he didn’t know her name - had escaped relatively unscathed. No one escaped Dark Feast nights. At least, as far as Kylo’s research showed. 

Weighing his options against the vampire reinforcements showing up, Kylo decided it would be better to abandon the creatures to their feast. It would be suicide for him to venture into that building without some kind of help. There was nothing more he could do for those people. 

It made him sick to leave, but there was only one of him, and who knew how many of them. He wouldn’t be able to protect anyone else if he got killed.

Kylo started back to the car. 

With his trained ears, Kylo could hear something jumping from car to car behind him. He spun around in time to see one of those creatures leaping for him. Out of instinct, Kylo fired the crossbow. 

It should have shot the creature through the heart. Instead, the arrow bounced harmlessly off and clattered to the ground. Kylo’s silver knife was out of his pocket, but the creature was already upon him, trying to sink its fangs into his neck. 

Kylo had plenty of hand to hand combat, but vampires were notoriously strong. The creature tried to rip one of his arms from the socket, but Kylo sliced cleanly through the hand. Flesh sizzled and burned as the hand fell into a shower of dust. 

Hardly giving the vampire time to comprehend his missing hand, Kylo swung the knife around, slicing through the neck. Kylo threw his arm up to shield his face from the arterial blood that sprayed out as the vampire’s head flew back. 

The hunter wasted no time in separating the creature’s head from the body to keep it dead. Vampires, he thought, worse than cockroaches. Kylo wasted no time in heading back to the van before anyone else spotted him. 

He hated vampires, not just because of their manners but because they had taken everything he held dear. He knew that sounded cliche, even while he was thinking it. But it was true. They had taken his childhood, his love, his family. 

Kylo couldn’t think of those things right now.

Instead, he turned his attention to the woman currently sleeping in his passenger seat. Curly, dark hair tumbled around her shoulders as her head lolled to the side, resting against the glass. Her face seemed somehow familiar to him, but Kylo was sure he didn’t know her. More importantly, that mask she had been wearing was very familiar, but Kylo had no idea how she had come to possess it. 

In fact, the mask had been missing for hundreds of years now, so how it had even entered the States without his knowing about it was intriguing. Someone very powerful was pulling the strings in this city and Kylo needed to find out who, before any more parties were ruined. 

Tossing his excess weapons on the back of the van, Kylo checked his usual places to be sure the other weapons were safe. Check. Never go unarmed. That was his motto.

He lifted himself up into the driver’s seat, glancing at the woman. Didn’t she know it was dangerous to fall asleep in strange places? But, Kylo had to admit, up until a few minutes ago she probably hadn’t realized vampires were real either. 

That truth alone could take it out of you, he knew. He had fainted with his first vampire. This was not a fact he liked to share with just anyone and was determined that it would be a secret he would take to his grave. 

Kylo started the van and gave her some slack. The safest place right now for her was at his apartment. There, he would be able to find out more about the mask and how she had walked away unscathed. 


End file.
